Play Date
by murdur
Summary: Sif's son Ullr and Loki's daughter Hela have landed themselves in trouble, again, prompting a meeting between their parents and the principal. Modern AU.


Written for a tumblr prompt "parents meeting when they take their kids to class au" but this spun from the intended short fic into something a bit longer.

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><p>Sif sits across the desk from the stern looking woman and feels the familiar sense of dread and embarrassment churning in her gut, like she's 7 years old and about to get another detention. But this is not about her, this meeting is about Ullr. And the little girl he can't seem to stop conspiring with to cause trouble. Ullr and Hela have landed themselves in trouble. Again. And apparently after the fifth or sixth encounter in a week, the notes pinned to backpacks and shaming phone calls are replaced with demands for an in-person meeting with the principal.<p>

She tries not to fidget under the gaze of the principal, feeling extra foolish wearing her police uniform, doubt and guilt about her parenting skills attempting to creep into her mind. What right does she have to be an officer if she can't even keep her own six year old child in line? But at least she showed up on time for this meeting. Unlike Hela's parents. It's another 7 painful minutes of silence before the door bursts open and a man enters the room with a sharp apology. He is tall but moves in a controlled, almost elegant manner as he crosses to the straight back chair next to her and slides into the seat.

This is _not_ what she expected. Sif was picturing someone wild and unkempt like his daughter. But compared to the ragamuffin girl sitting in the outer hall next to Ullr, this man is exceptionally sharp dressed and smooth. And very handsome.

Principal Norriss gives the pair of them a sharp glance and inquires if Mrs. Laufey will be attending the meeting. The man next to her falters for a moment. "There is no -, it's just me. We can proceed, if you wish." He glances towards her and Sif nods, glad that she wasn't asked about a non-existent Mr. Børja.

Principal Norriss sighs and launches right into the meat of this gathering. During afternoon recess when Ullr asked a small group of boys if he could join in their play, he was told that they didn't want him. Ullr then went to waif-like little Hela, who apparently carried out the hit against the group of boys. Knocking one to the ground and pinning another against the monkey bars before the third could run to an adult for aid. This was after a similar incidence happened in gym class just two days earlier.

At this point in the meeting, Sif would very much like for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She is at least partially reassured by the fact that Mr. Laufey has buried his face in his hands, groaning quietly.

Principal Norriss continues on that the school has a no-tolerance policy for bullies and that such behavior cannot continue. "I do not want to resort to suspension or keeping these children from learning in the classroom. I'm told they are both exceptionally bright. But we need to enforce a better conflict resolution strategy from all sides." Both Sif and Mr. Laufey give their verbal agreement to follow through with the principal's recommendations. She can feel his gaze upon her, but Sif avoids eye contact with him, wishing for this day to end.

Sif exits the small office and sees Ullr sitting next to Hela, with his head hung and a look of guilt painting his face. Hela sits swinging her feet and humming quietly, the wild curls of her black hair surrounding her head. She waves to Sif with a smile on her narrow face, which only slightly dims when her father gives her a disapproving sound. Sif juts her head towards the door and Ullr slings his backpack on and silently mopes towards her. He whispers "Sorry, Mama," and she takes his hand as they cross the parking lot towards her police cruiser, her mind preoccupied with how to best approach this situation with her son.

"Miss Børja? Officer?" she hears Mr. Laufey's smooth voice call out and she stops and turns towards the pair. "I'm not sure if Ullr's invite to Hela's 6th birthday party this weekend made it into your hands, and I understand if consequences for today include a ban on extracurricular activities, but I just wanted to reassure you that we would still look forward to having you both over on Saturday."

"Oh," Sif is surprised by the topic. She looks down at Ullr and the look of hope in the kindergartner's eyes and she can't bring herself to deny him this. "Thank you, Mr. Laufey. Ullr will be there. And please, call me Sif."

"Then you must call me Loki. I was also hoping I could get your number," he smiles crookedly when Sif raises her eyebrows at him. "For birthday party updates. And for parenting strategies for our little criminals."

"That's probably a good idea," Sif sighs "Maybe it will help if we're both on the same page about some of this stuff." She lists off her cell number and Loki types it into his phone before giving her another smile and dragging Hela off towards their expensive looking sports car. She thinks again about how handsome he is.

She is surprised when a call comes to her phone later that night, after Ullr has been tucked into bed following a bath and cereal for dinner. Dressed in sweats, she is curled up on the couch with a bottle of beer and replaying the closed off look on Ullr's face when she explained what he should do in the future if someone upsets him or does something mean, trying to reassure him that he can come to her with any problems, when her phone vibrates, making her jump as she answers. "Hello?"

"Hello, Officer," the voice seems to slide across her skin.

"Hello, Loki," her heart seems to be beating faster than a simple phone call warrants.

"I just wanted to update you that Hela and I have had a talk, and although she refuses to ignore her friend in times of trouble, she has diplomatically agreed to join him in play somewhere else or find an adult to help, instead of immediately throwing left hooks. So, I think that it went swimmingly."

"I also had a talk, and although Ullr didn't offer much, I _think_ he understands a similar strategy. I am sorry that he has pulled your daughter into so many battles that are not her own."

"Nonsense. Honestly I am glad that she has found a friend in your boy. I've sent invites to the entire kindergarten class, but I'm not sure how many will show, given Hela's assault rate."

Sif tucks her feet up under herself. "Ullr is very much looking forward to her party."

"I was hoping maybe you'd stay for the party as well. That is, if you weren't planning on using the birthday party as a free daycare service and running off on a date during that time?" Is he trying to ask her if she's seeing anyone? She tries not to grin.

"No, no, I figured it'd be best to stick around in case of another...incident."

"Of course _all_ the parents are welcome to stay and help," he intones, "but seeing as we're both raising delinquents we might as well stick together."

"Augh," Sif drags her hand down her face. "Please, no more police terms like that. You're going to make me feel even worse about my parenting skills."

"Well if makes you feel any better," his voice drops to a stage whisper and Sif fights a smile, "I am a _defense attorney. _Raising a repeat offender."

Sif laughs, and it's the first genuine laugh she's had in days. "What have we done to our children? I love Ullr dearly, but I don't understand him sometimes," she confides. She doesn't know why she's telling him this, something that she hardly admits to herself. "I am blunt and straightforward. He is sneaky sometimes. I have tried to teach him the value of honesty, and the importance of taking responsibility for yourself, but he can let his emotions rule him."

"Ah yes," he sighs, "I am under a similar predicament. I have _no_ idea where Hela developed this notion of being a protector, a guardian. _I_ certainly never taught her such selflessness."

Sif laughs again, relieved that she doesn't detect any judgement from Loki for her confession, only humorous understanding. She genuinely looks forward to this weekend while they chat for a few more minutes and as she bids him goodnight.

The Saturday of the party arrives and is off to a somewhat rocky start when Sif makes Ullr cry after she asks him to _please hurry up_ or they would be late to the party. She sighs, trying not to feel like the worst mother as she watches the tears drip off the square jaw of her tender-hearted boy. He looks so much like her with his strong features and large hazel eyes. Yet there is so much about him that diverges from her nature; he is soft where she is stubborn, sneaky where she is blunt. Closed and quiet where she is loud and open.

Small hands scrub at his eyes when she apologizes from where she kneels before him and pulls her child into an embrace. He clutches at her neck and hiccups for a moment before Sif can even allude to putting on his shoes and getting out the door.

When they pull into the driveway of address listed on the invite, they are 10 minutes early and the house is huge.

"Of course it is," Sif mutters under her breath, thinking of Loki's expensive looking suit from the meeting and the way he filled it out so nicely.

When she knocks on the door, Ullr holding a brightly wrapped present in his hands and still sniffling slightly, Loki answers, and Sif could swear he drags his eyes up her long form, dressed in plain clothes today, before giving her a somewhat chagrinned look.

"Welcome," he pulls the door open wide for them to enter. She let's her own eyes wander, admiring his more casual look of dark jeans and a sharp looking sweater with the sleeve pushed up his forearms. "I'm so glad you're here. And I'm sure Hela will be too." Sif raises her eyebrows at him and he runs a long hand through his pushed back hair. "We are having a bit of a... _situation_ this morning."

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"She decided to cut her own hair," Loki groans and Sif watches in amusement as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "The results are obviously disastrous. As if she didn't already look like a street urchin before."

Sif makes a sympathetic face. "I'm sure it's not as terrible as it seems."

"And now she refuses to come out of her room," Loki continues. "I am terribly embarrassed to ask this of you, but do you think you could talk to her? She is refusing my help, insisting that a _boy_ can't help."

"Of course," Sif shrugs out of her coat and hands it to Loki. "If you wouldn't mind staying with Ullr." Loki looks to the boy standing quietly in the middle of the living room, his eyes still brimmed in red and nods. Sif mutters, "We've also had a fun morning."

"Ullr and I will stand guard over the cupcakes while you attend to your task. Her room is upstairs, first door on the right. Thank you again."

Sif nods towards the pair, giving Ullr a reassuring smile before heading up the stairs with a deep breath. She knocks softly on the girl's door, trying not to curiously peer down the hall at the impossibly tidy house, before she hears Hela shout "I said _no_, Daddy!"

"Hela? This is Sif, Ullr's mom." Sif hears a shuffle inside before the door cracks open.

"Are you gonna arrest me?" Hela peers at her warily and Sif can see the damage of short, uneven bangs sticking up from her forehead and tries not to laugh.

"No, no. You're not in trouble. I'm here to help."

Hela opens the door fully and lets Sif into her room. "Where's your uniform?"

"I'm not working today, so I get to wear regular clothes." The room is an explosion of toys and clothes, dolls and lightsabers strew about the room. A paradox to the rest of the house. It makes Sif happy, thinking of Loki and his wild girl. She is as unruly and unordered as he is disciplined and controlled. With her clever, narrow face there is no denying his claim to her though.

"I told Daddy I want to be a police officer too. He said that was a stupid idea," Sif's brows shoot to the top of her head as they both sit down on Hela's bed, "but a brave one."

"Is that right?"

"Yep. And Daddy said you are as brave as you are beautiful."

"Did he now?" Sif smiles wickedly. "Your father sure seems to know a lot. Now, what do you say I make your hair look fit for a princess on your special day?"

"A princess who fights dragons!"

Sif sets to the task of pulling Hela's wild bangs back into a winding braid. The girl chats away endlessly and Sif half listens while her fingers pull through the child's dark hair.

"Im half dead, you know." That catches Sif's attention.

"What do you mean?"

"Daddy always says that I'm half him and half Mommy," the girl states matter of factly. "So I'm half dead."

"Ah," Sif isn't sure what to say about that. "Well, you are now a _complete_, dragon-slaying princess." She runs a hand over the the smooth crown braid wrapping around Hela's head, hiding all evidence of her unfortunate hair cut.

Hela leads her out of the room, bounding down the stairs to where Loki is crouched before a smiling Ullr.

"Mama watch!" he shouts happily, all traces of the morning's upset gone, at the same moment Hela shouts "Daddy look!"

Loki compliments her hair and shoots Sif a grateful look before turning back to Ullr. Waving his hands in front of the boy for a moment before producing a shiny coin from behind Ullr's ear, to the boy's utter delight.

"He's magic!"

"Perhaps during the next bath-time, you better scrub extra hard back there," he whispers to the boy before turning to Sif. "I've already pulled a dollar fifty out from behind his ears."

The doorbell rings at that, and the house is henceforth filled with the ruckus of kindergarteners wired on birthday games and sugary punch. Sif sticks around, mingling with the other parents, but mainly helping Loki corral children. She likens the task to herding cats as the kids run through the large house and to the bouncy castle set up in the sprawling backyard.

Ullr and Hela often can be found next to each other, like two peas in a pod. Ullr seeming to ground Hela when she gets over-excited waiting to rip into her gifts, and Hela persuading a cautious Ullr into the bouncy castle with her.

Their parents appear to work together just as well. Cleaning up spills and wiping away tears of the little party-goers. Organizing games of tag and hide-and-seek. Loki blindfolds and wickedly spins the giggling kindergarteners as Sif bravely hands them a stick and leads them towards the dragon-shaped pinata. Even acting as a buffer and a shield for each other against invasive questions from nosey soccer moms about Hela's mother and Ullr's troublemaking in class, Loki calling for her to come help with a task in the other room or Sif accidentally spilling her cup of punch down an expensive looking blouse.

The two flow around each other in the kitchen, Sif helping to plate the store bought cupcakes onto a serving tray while Loki pushes six candles into the largest treat. And when he reaches across with an absentmindedly licked thumb to wipe the purple frosting from her cheek, it feels natural and easy.

And at the end of the afternoon, as everyone is filing out of the home, taking goody bags handed out by Hela and Ullr from their post near the door, Sif is exhausted but happy.

"Thank you," Loki returns with her burgundy coat when only the four of them remain in the house. Some of his hair has fallen out of place and onto his forehead over the course of the day, and Sif likes the tousled look. "I would have been lost without you today."

"It was my pleasure," Sif shrugs into her jacket as Loki stands behind her, politely holding the coat. "You really know how to throw a party."

"I am indebted to your kindness," he murmurs and leans in for a kiss on her cheek, but Sif has already turned to do the same and his lips press against hers.

Sif is frozen and even this close she can see the look of surprise mirrored on Loki's face, but he doesn't pull the warmth of his lips away until the giggling comes near their knees, along with a distinct "ewwww" and faked gagging noises.

"I'm-" Loki looks a little dazed, "so sorry."

"Don't be," she grins, feeling a thrill run through her. The slow smile he gives her then tells her that he's not.

Sif takes Ullr's hand and walks towards the door. "I know a very good babysitter," she says over her shoulder as they step out into the chilly fall air. "Perhaps we could share sometime."

"Sounds lovely." She doesn't miss the large smile on his face, nor Hela's enthusiastic waving. "It's a play date."


End file.
